Way of the Devil

Chapter 565: Close-quarter Combat (2)

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

‘So, the way to deal with this is to adapt to the rules here as quickly as possible, stall for time, find the weak spot of this dimension, smash through it, and leave! The Weapon Grandmaster himself and the entrance to this dimension should be the only weak spots.’

Lu Sheng understood that the toughness of the Heart Devil World far surpassed any ordinary world’s. Great Yin might not even be as tough as this small world.

It would have been meaningless for him to force his way out. The only way was for him to get used to this place and find the exit.

‘The power of lightning, huh?’ Lu Sheng started searching for any skill formulas related to lightning in his memories of cultivation.

A punching technique that aimed to control lightning in its cultivation quickly surfaced in his mind.

‘Coincidentally, I’m quite confident in learning a new martial skill.’ Lu Sheng licked his lips and glanced at his Mental Energy, which was still plenty.

“Deep Blue!” he spoke in his heart.

...

Heart Devil World.

The First Sacred King hovered in midair. Black air gathered around him. The power of lightning was extremely suppressed in this place.

‘I didn’t expect the Prime Devil Sect’s master to be an authentic Weapon Grandmaster who has already awoken his Weapon World. This truly is a miscalculation on my part. Getting on the bad side of a Weapon Grandmaster is not beneficial for the Sacred Gates... Looks like I have no choice but to kill.’

The First Sacred King’s expression was grave.

The battle between Weapon Grandmasters was mainly a competition to see who can break through the other’s Weapon World first. The one who succeeded would be undefeatable.

The method to break through a Weapon World was to find the entry point of the Weapon Grandmaster as quickly as possible. He would have to forcibly break through it before he was thoroughly weakened and eventually killed by the rules here.

The Weapon World was closely connected to the Weapon Grandmaster’s main body. Once it was broken, the main body would also suffer great damage.

The First Sacred King strolled across the pitch-black skies of this world. He looked down at the rubble and ruins below.

‘He’s just a new Weapon Grandmaster. Naturally, he’s only awakened few rules. It’d be an achievement for him to awaken three or four already. Judging by Lu Sheng’s main body, he should be most skilled in physical combat. There should be a rule about Devil Qi. There should also be a rule about physical training...’ The First Sacred King started to close his eyes. He attempted to use his powers to mimic the environment of this world’s rules.

The so-called Weapon World’s rules were actually the Weapon Grandmaster’s own enlightenment that was made into rules.

The Weapon World in itself was not a real world. It was a collection of understanding of the Weapon Grandmaster made manifest.

The First Sacred King had an extremely deep understanding of lightning. Hence, the power of lightning in his Weapon World was extremely powerful.

Also, he had a high level of mastery in using sword and blades. However, he did not dabble in the spear.

Hence, sword techniques could be freely used in his Weapon World, but it was impossible to use high-level spear techniques.

Once a skilled spearman entered his Weapon World, the spearman’s abilities would be sealed.

Only the Weapon Grandmaster’s own abilities were allowed to exist within the Weapon World. Any field that the Weapon Grandmaster was not skilled in would be extremely suppressed.

That was the real powerfulness of a Weapon Grandmaster.

Pulling the opponent into a realm of one’s own mastery and forcing the opponent to only use the same techniques and powers as oneself. Then, the Weapon Grandmaster would take down the opponent with the advantage of rich experience.

On top of this, the opponent would be under constant pressure from the negative effects of the world where his vitality was whittled away over time.

As an old demon who had lived for more than 4,000 years, the First Sacred King was skilled in many fields. He had also awakened many rules. He quickly familiarized himself with the rules of Devil Qi and physical training.

After familiarizing himself with the two rules, he switched the power within himself, modelled some Devil Qi and covered his body with it. This immediately lessened the suppression and erosion of the environment acting against himself.

‘Next, let’s see what I can do about the other rules. When I completely familiarize myself with the rules, it’ll be your death.’

The First Sacred King extended an index finger with a smile. He drew it across the air before him lightly.

“Srrahh!”

With a crisp sound, rule threads materialized in front of him. This was a measuring skill formula which he had come up with. With this, he could measure the remaining number of rules in the Weapon World.

The rule threads of the black Devil Qi slowly appeared. The black lines that resembled seaweed were undulating with a specific rhythm.

“So, you’ve mainly cultivated the Eight-Headed Devil Art. I’ve seen this Devil Art a long time ago when I roamed Great Song. Not bad.” The First Sacred King’s expression relaxed. He continued pulling his finger downward.

Faint green threads appeared.

“This must be the Yin Flame rule. It’s also one of your main abilities, huh? Not bad.”

The First Sacred King’s expression remained unchanged. He continued looking downward.

He pulled with his finger for the third time. Flesh-colored threads appeared, representing the hard body skill.

“Oh? You’re quite accomplished in this. With so many hard body skills merged into one, and it’s an original cultivation method at that. You don’t see this every day. I’ve spent a long time trying to understand this as well.” The First Sacred King appeared to be admiring this.

“Let’s look on.”

He drew his finger further downward.

“This is a sword technique, not bad.

“This is a blade technique, not bad. You’re quite skilled at it as well.

“Eh? This is a water-controlling ability? You’re cultivating this as well?

“There’s potions... Uh... I didn’t expect to find something that I’m not skilled at.

“This is poison... Just how many types of skills are you cultivating?!

“Palm techniques?

“Punching techniques?

“Spiritual Power? What’s this?

“I don’t believe this! You’re only a new Weapon Grandmaster, but you’ve awakened more rules than I have?!”

The First Sacred King was slightly pale now. Of all the rule threads he had revealed, he merely understood a few of the initial ones. The other rules that were packed together floated in the air. He felt terrified just by looking at them.

....

‘Lightning, sword technique, blade technique, poison, water. Five main rules, huh?’ Lu Sheng found the main rule system of this world with the imitative characteristic of his Yang Essence.

‘This peculiar world is structured and created by merging these five rules together. Other techniques and powers would be suppressed. Is this how the Heart Devil World is supposed to work? Not bad! Not bad at all!’ As Lu Sheng felt elated, he looked up at the skies and laughed out loud.

Judging by the completeness of this world’s rule system, the First Sacred King must have had extremely high mastery of these five domains. He might even be at the Origin Power stage, just like his Yin Flames.

However, a Weapon Grandmaster could only possess one Origin Power. On the surface, it appeared as if the First Sacred King’s Origin Power was lightning. However, after spending 200 units of Mental Energy on deriving, Lu Sheng found out that the rule regarding water was the most powerful one here.

“I’ve found it! That’s it!” Lu Sheng guffawed. He flew toward a huge black lake in the center of this world.

.....

An hour later...

The First Sacred King completely wiped away the 12th kind of rule threads with a ghastly pale face. This means that he had completely understood a part of this world’s rules.

12 rules!

To be able to achieve this much in such a short amount of time was already enough to shock the world.

If he’d been facing an ordinary Weapon Grandmaster, his opponent would have lost long ago. New Weapon Grandmasters were usually very simple. At most, there would only be two or three rules in their Weapon Worlds.

Usually, after understanding 12 rules, he would have been able to gravely wound any new Weapon Grandmaster. Even the older Weapon Grandmasters might not be able to compare with him.

However, at this moment, the First Sacred King felt extremely depressed.

He heaved a long sigh. Then, he turned to look at the various rule threads hovering in the air. They extended for a dozen meters.

The various rules were densely packed together and floated freely. There were five kinds of rule threads regarding talismans alone. Each of the rule threads were not simple dabbling, they were all thoroughly studied.

Even for the First Sacred King, there was no way that he could completely understand rules such as those in a short span of time.

“If that’s the case... I should make this quick!” The First Sacred King’s hands instantly turned into blue feathered wings. Wide patches of shadows were left in the air.

The layers of shadows combined together to form larger wings.

“Since I can’t break this world, we’ll see who’s more powerful!”

Countless pitch-black whirlpools suddenly surfaced behind the First Sacred King. The black whirlpools of varying sizes were neatly aligned into an immense triangle.

...

Lightning Nation.

Upon the huge patch of charred ground, Lu Sheng’s Devil Qi had turned into white water vapor. He brought Lu Ning and Chang Qingzi along in a charge toward the huge lake in the middle of this area.

“Lu Sheng.”

All of a sudden, an emaciated, bluish-black figure slowly rose from the faraway lake.

“You’re finally willing to show yourself?” Lu Sheng’s gaze sharpened. He stared at the figure and licked his lips.

“As your senior, I’ll allow you three moves.” The First Sacred King extended three figures. “After you’ve unleashed three moves, it’ll be the death of you.”

“Such arrogance!” Lu Sheng felt so infuriated that he laughed.

“You have no idea just how great the difference is between us,” said the First Sacred King coldly. His body slowly melted into water which dripped back into the lake.

“Difference?” Lu Sheng’s tail swung slowly behind him. He grinned. “Well then... Let me taste just how great this difference is!”

His voice barely faded when he charged out.

Overturn the Sea!

A body of seawater huge enough to cover the skies rippled and cast its gleam on the surroundings before crashing down loudly. It bore down toward the Sacred King alongside Lu Sheng’s body.

“Counter!” The Sacred King opened his arms wide. The waters of the lake condensed into two huge arms which formed fists and hurled themselves at the skies.

“Rumble!”

As both parties collided with a loud bang, seawater sprayed everywhere.

Lu Sheng wielded black blades in each of his four arms and slashed at the Sacred King’s body with lightning speed. He managed to unleash a thousand slashes in a second. Every slash of the blade was combined with Yin Flames, Devil Qi, heavy seawater pressure, and countless negative effects.

The two of them exchanged blows with blinding speed. They crashed into the lake in an instant.

“Eeeek!”

All of a sudden, a sharp and deafening scream erupted between them.

Lu Sheng’s four Devil Blades drew across the faint blue membrane on the Sacred King’s body, releasing screeching sounds.

“I’ll show you the difference between us!” The Sacred King’s eyes shone with blue light. Three huge blue tendrils appeared behind him. He whipped Lu Sheng from the side.

“Zither Air Slash!”

The three tendrils immediately transformed into three rods of blue lightning. The lightning transformed into three beams of sword gleams in the air. They slashed toward Lu Sheng with a loud noise that reverberated in everyone’s ears. The sound made everyone uncomfortable.

“Clang!”

Lu Sheng crossed his four blades before himself, and unleashed thousands of slashes. He precisely blocked every sword gleam and the shrapnel formed after they were shattered.

“Time Freeze!” The Sacred King growled. He teleported to the back of Lu Sheng.

Everything froze instantly. He aimed a slash at Lu Sheng’s neck.

“F*ck your difference!”

“Boom!”

A thick and powerful tail lashed out at his waist, and sent him crashing down like a cannonball. He crashed into the lake and created a ten-meter-tall splash.

Lu Sheng combined his four blades. He wielded a long sword with his arms. Half of his face was already a fierce-looking wolf, while the other half remained human.

“It’s over.” He lifted the black blade high. A huge shadow of the Hundred-head Devil Wolf dozens of meters tall surfaced behind him.

“I’ll be back.” The First Sacred King lay on the lake’s surface. His expression calmed down.

“Infinity, Divine Might!”

In an instant, the heavens and earth split open.

A pitch-black light column split the entire Lightning Nation with its charred soil into two.

Lu Sheng howled and roared. The Hundred-head Devil Wolf behind him let out a howl skyward. He focused all his power into a single point and brought his blade down heavily.

The land was silent at first, but then it cracked open loudly. Beams of black radiance and Devil Qi shot out from the ground, completely destroying everything.